Rebecca MacKinnon's postings about work, reading, and ideas from 2004-2011.

February 07, 2005

Embedded reporter's departing thoughts

Embedded journalist Brian Palmer (disclosure: old friend of mine) writes this final post before leaving Iraq for Kuwait. He concludes:

I have met many wonderful soldiers, but I haven't been impressed by
their fitness, preparedness, or their skills. I watched a kindly
sergeant fumble with his M-16 and a digital camera during a joint
patrol with Marines through a former munitions plant known for
insurgent activity. He snapped pictures while the Marines surveyed the
rubble for potential bombers and snipers. Marines in the artillery
platoon have told me their Army counterparts are positively bewildered
by the call-for-fire process. These are the procedures by which you
rain artillery shells on your enemy -- and avoid killing civilians and
your own forces.

This morning soldiers fired on a civilian vehicle. Three officers I
talked to, two Marines and one soldier, assured me it was a legitimate
shoot: Two vehicles approached a checkpoint; one failed to stop, so
soldiers halted it with gunfire, killing two of the four people in the
car. "It happens all the time," a marine warrant officer said. But an
enlisted man I spoke with briefly who was privy to early reports
implied -- but did not state explicitly - that the soldiers
overreacted.

The soldiers have time to learn; their deployment will last at least
a year. But I hope for their sake, and that of the citizens of this
area, that they learn quickly.

Judging from the warblogs, the soldiers don't seem too impressed with the journalists either. What to do?